This invention relates generally to tags for vending garment belt, and more particularly to tags which enable one to readily sever a garment belt to customize it to a desired size.
Garment belts are frequently mass marketed by vendors by displaying a large number of belts a display rack. The belts are commonly segregated by size, color, and any other attributes deemed relevant to the purchaser. Typically in the vending of belts in this manner each belt may include a tag or hanger bearing some indicia relating to the belt, e.g., its size, color, manufacturer/vendor, etc.
Some garment belts, particularly those intended for men, are made sufficiently long to cover a range of sizes and are designed to enable the purchaser to cut the belt to any desired size within a designated range, e.g., "all sizes to 42 inches," and thereby customize the belt to the purchaser's waist or pants size. To that end such belts typically include a buckle which is constructed so that it can be removed from the belt end to which it had been attached (e.g., the "flat" end of the belt) so that the user can cut the belt to the desired length. The buckle may include a throat or space into which the flat end of the belt extends and a clamp or some other releasable securement member, e.g., at least one set screw, to hold that belt end within the throat/space. In order to custom size such a belt all that the purchaser has to do is to sever the belt at any position from the buckle back toward the tip so that the length of the severed section is his/her waist size, and then replace the buckle on the square end of the newly severed belt section.
One drawback of this arrangement is that in order to ensure that the belt is customized the desired length, the purchaser has to have some accurate means to measure the length of the belt from its free end tip to the point at which it will be severed. Typically the means utilized has been a conventional ruler, tape measure, yard stick, etc.
Accordingly, a need exists for a device for use in vending belts which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art to facilitate the custom sizing of garment belts.